My Junior Brother is a Hidden Boss

Chapter 1: Have You Eaten?

Above Cangzhou, peaks rose and fell in an endless expanse of spiritual beauty and natural elegance. Here, an ancient Sect had stood unyielding for millennia.

Two figures walked along the winding mountain path, making their way toward the towering peak ahead.

One was a handsome young man with an upright posture, his every step radiating an ethereal, transcendent aura.

Beside him walked a middle-aged man in his forties, draped in fine brocades. He looked at the youth beside him with a mild, approving smile playing at his lips.

“Tianyi, it’s been years. To think you’ve already broken through to the sixth layer of Essence Condensation. You truly leave your Martial Uncle in awe!” the older man praised.

The young man was Ye Tianyi, and the ground they walked upon belonged to the Cangyun Sect.

This great Sect boasted seven main peaks, each governed by a formidable Peak Master.

The two were currently ascending one of these seven summits-Qingyun Peak.

Ye Tianyi was the esteemed personal disciple of Qingyun Peak.

Hearing the praise, Ye Tianyi shook his head humbly. “Martial Uncle Lin Po, you flatter me. This meager cultivation is nothing remarkable.”

“No need for false modesty. Compared to you, my own personal disciples are an eyesore. I truly envy your Master for taking in talents like you. Qingyun Peak’s legacy is secured for the next thousand years!”

Lin Po’s tone brimmed with genuine envy, entirely devoid of empty flattery.

Prompted by this, Ye Tianyi couldn’t help but ask, “Speaking of which, Martial Uncle, when Master returned to the Sect ten years ago, he took in another disciple. He claimed this Junior Brother of mine possessed an intellect and aptitude that defied the heavens-a peerless genius unseen in Cangzhou for a century. Is he truly as breathtaking as Master described?”

“Who? Lu Changsheng?”

“Yes!”

At the mention of that name, Lin Po’s brow twitched into a frown, momentarily at a loss for words.

He hesitated for a long while before finally speaking.

“That… is hard for me to evaluate. It’s best you interact with him yourself. However, one thing your Master said was absolutely correct!”

“What’s that?”

“Forget a century; Cangzhou wouldn’t produce a specimen like him even in five hundred years!”

Intrigued, Ye Tianyi’s eyes lit up. “It seems this Junior Brother of mine is truly extraordinary!”

“Oh, he’s ‘extraordinary’ alright…”

“Is he within the Sect right now?” Ye Tianyi inquired.

“He’s right over there.”

Lin Po sighed, pointing toward a spot not too far away, beneath the shade of an ancient pine tree.

Sprawled comfortably on a reclining chair was a youth in pristine white robes. He was lazily waving a folding fan, a teacup in his other hand as he took slow, savoring sips.

He looked the absolute picture of decadent leisure.

Standing before him were several disciples. At their feet sat bulging burlap sacks that gleamed under the sunlight, overflowing with dazzling white Spirit Stones.

“Senior Brother Changsheng, this month’s protection quota from Cangyun City has arrived. Would you like to audit the assets?”

The speaker wore a shamelessly fawning grin.

Lu Changsheng took another sip of his tea and drawled, “No need for an audit. You boys are handling the portfolio. I trust your accounting.”

The lackeys beamed with pride at the compliment.

Lu Changsheng smoothly continued, “There is, however, one minor operational hurdle you need to resolve.”

“What is it, Senior Brother?”

“A few storefronts seem to have sourced alternative external resources. They’re two months delinquent on their premium service fees. Consider this your next collection assignment.”

“They must be tired of breathing, daring to default on Senior Brother’s dividends!”

“Sons of bitches! I’ll torch their properties tomorrow!”

The group erupted into righteous indignation, fervently crusading on Lu Changsheng’s behalf as if vigorously defending the honor of their beloved patriarch.

Lu Changsheng waved his fan dismissively. “Let’s not escalate to property damage just yet. I’m a bleeding heart; I abhor unnecessary overhead like bloodshed. Just give them a three-day grace period to settle their accounts.”

“And if they refuse the final notice?”

“If they don’t pay up, are your hands broken? You don’t know how to liquidate assets? Do I have to micromanage everything?” Lu Changsheng raised a single brow.

Sudden enlightenment dawned on the enforcers. Right! If the clients refused to pay, couldn’t they simply seize the collateral themselves? If they couldn’t even manage a basic shakedown, what were they cultivating for?

Every word of this exchange drifted perfectly into the ears of Ye Tianyi and Lin Po.

Lin Po looked entirely numb to the spectacle, but thick black lines of sheer disbelief practically materialized on Ye Tianyi’s forehead.

“Martial Uncle, is… is that really my Junior Brother?”

“Rest assured, he undeniably is.”

“Rest assured…” Ye Tianyi’s mouth twitched violently. What in the heavens had he just witnessed?

What happened to ‘exceptional talent’? What happened to ‘unseen in a century’?

True cultivators seized every passing second, foregoing food and sleep to pursue the Dao. Even the Eldest Senior Brother, the absolute paragon of the Cangyun Sect, trained with ascetic devotion.

Yet this newly touted genius was living like a retired mortal! Napping, strolling, sipping tea-completely ignoring ancient scriptures and sacred techniques. He treated the grand pursuit of immortality like a part-time hobby!

As if that wasn’t blasphemous enough, he was running a syndicate of inner disciples, sending them down to Cangyun City to run a protection racket for Spirit Stones?!

Sensing the youth’s spiraling worldview, Lin Po patted his shoulder. “Nephew, you will slowly acclimate.”

“Is this illicit racketeering all he does?” Ye Tianyi asked, clinging desperately to a final shred of hope.

Lin Po stroked his chin, pondering before answering with deadpan sincerity. “Of course not. He occasionally pursues other ventures.”

“Like what?”

“Well, for instance, whenever the outer Sect distributes the monthly Spirit Rice, he is impeccably punctual, casually hauling away two full sacks. When Spirit Pills are allocated to the inner Sect, he arrives at the crack of dawn and leaves with a brimming basket. When the personal disciples’ Spirit Stone stipends are released, he naturally claims yours and your Senior Brother’s shares. Furthermore, every two weeks like clockwork, he visits an Elder to declare that his Senior Brother has reached a critical cultivation bottleneck and urgently requires an emergency influx of Spirit Stones…”

Lin Po recited Lu Changsheng’s flawless decade-long grift. The boy had never missed a single payout.

With every word, Ye Tianyi’s complexion transitioned from an ashen gray to a boiling, furious red. “Has no one put a stop to this?! Does Eldest Senior Brother not intervene?!”

“I’ve certainly never seen anyone try. Frankly, as a personal disciple, embezzling a few sacks of rice is beneath notice. The outer Sect Elders wouldn’t dare disrespect your Master’s prestige over it. The Sect can easily afford to write off his pill pilfering as a rounding error. And as for the Spirit Stones… well, perhaps your Senior Brother truly did need them. Who can say?”

Lin Po offered this as comfort.

Ye Tianyi’s eye twitched so violently it felt like a spasm. He was a man of iron-clad principles and righteous ardor, taking immense pride in the flawless discipline of their faction. To think his own sacred peak had fostered such a… parasite.

“Tianyi, let it go. Your Master has been absent, and the rest of you were too absorbed in cultivation to properly guide him. It’s merely a lack of discipline. Now that you’ve returned, you can slowly mold his character,” Lin Po advised smoothly.

Ye Tianyi nodded sharply, steeling his resolve to forcefully realign this wayward Junior Brother’s moral compass.

Taking the cue, Lin Po called out, “Changsheng!”

At the sound of his voice, the group under the pine tree snapped their heads around.

Upon spotting Lin Po, the lackeys visibly shuddered in terror. They hoisted their burlap sacks and sprinted up the mountain like fleeing bandits.

Lu Changsheng, however, didn’t even flinch. He rose to his feet with fluid grace, a brilliant, welcoming smile blooming across his face.

“Martial Uncle Lin, what a rare honor to have you grace Qingyun Peak today! Are you here on business with my Senior Brother?”

He strolled toward them at a leisurely, utterly unbothered pace.

Ye Tianyi locked his gaze onto Lu Changsheng, fundamentally taken aback.

The youth approaching them was perhaps seventeen or eighteen. Draped in unblemished white, his facial features were breathtakingly sharp-eyebrows like unsheathed swords and eyes that held the profound depth of a starry sky. He practically radiated an otherworldly, immortal purity.

Ye Tianyi’s mind short-circuited. It was physically impossible to reconcile this devastatingly majestic immortal aura with the shameless mobster he had just observed.

“I merely ran into your Second Senior Brother while returning to the Sect and accompanied him up,” Lin Po explained.

“Second Senior Brother?” Lu Changsheng arched a brow, finally shifting his gaze to the rigid young man beside the Elder.

Truth be told, he had never actually met this particular coworker before.

“Well? Hurry and greet your Second Senior Brother!”

Lin Po prompted. Ye Tianyi immediately clasped his hands behind his back, lifting his chin in cold, austere pride. He was genuinely furious and refused to even look at Lu Changsheng, deciding to instantly establish an imposing hierarchy to crush the boy’s arrogance.

Lu Changsheng simply beamed, flashing a set of perfectly white teeth, and drawled in the most anti-climactic tone imaginable, “Second Senior Brother. Have you eaten?”

In an instant, Ye Tianyi’s majestic facade shattered. He stood utterly frozen, his mouth opening and closing for a long time, unable to formulate a single word.

…